Tyrian 2000
I'm not really a huge fan of shmup games, as most of them tend to be too rough for me, but Tyrian 2000 kicks ass! It's more-or-less your standard shoot-em-up fare, but you can upgrade your ship inbetween missions from money you get from killing enemies and collecting bonuses. If that isn't quite your style and you'd rather cut the crap and just blow stuff up, there's the arcade mode, which turns the game into a more standard shmup. It's still fun, though. Another plus of this game is that it has a fairly decent soundtrack. I mean, c'mon, let's face it, what's a shmup without good music? However, the graphics could be better, but vertical shoot-em-ups are rarely about the graphics.
From my experience, the game will run under XP, however the game will run quite slowly, and there will be no sound or music. In order to play the game the way it was meant to be played, you'll need to get DOSBox, a DOS emulator. If you're still not getting music or sound, open up the setup.exe through DOSBox and mess around with the audio settings.
http://members.iinet.net.au/~vanneva...downloads.html
http://dosbox.sourceforge.net/download.php?main=1
Death worm
Are you a fan of Tremors? Then Death Worm is a game you'll probably like! Maybe even a lot! It's a simple arcade-style game where you play as a giant worm, and you guessed it, your goal is to eat as much as possible! The controls are simple, using only the arrow keys. The graphics are very simple, but they get the job done, and a lot of the sprites remind me of old arcade games. Honestly, there's not a whole lot else to say about this game. It's fun! You should play it!
http://gmc.yoyogames.com/index.php?showtopic=279075
Command & Conquer
Oh man, the Command & Conquer series rocks! What's better? The original C&C that started it all was released for free! To be honest with you, the original C&C was a game that I hadn't really played until now, aside from the crappy N64 version. After playing it a bit, I'd say it has withstood the test of time quite well considering how much RTS games have advanced since then. The balancing seems decent, and both campaigns are challenging. Even the live-action cutscenes are great, even if they're rather cheesy. My biggest complaint is a lack of a Skirmish mode, but it was never in the game to begin with, so there isn't a whole lot that can be done about that. Although you can still play the game over LAN (as long as you install the right patch), so that's good!
In order to play the game, you're going to need to burn the iso files onto a CD, or use a CD-ROM emulation tool like Daemon Tools. In order to play LAN, you're going to have to replace your old THIP32.dll with this one.
http://www.ihud.com/file.php?file=fi...75/thipx32.dll
Be sure to read the read-me, because there's a few more steps that need to be done to get this game working. Please don't ask me for help about this. Here's the download.
http://www.commandandconquer.com/int...id=61#NewsMain
The Desolate Room
An RPG where all the characters are robots? Who would have thunk'it? The weird thing about this game is that the first five or ten minutes of the game are quite boring. You walk around a maze-like landscape searching for objects without a map. After you get past that point, it's all good! If you're a fan of turn-based RPGs, this game is likely to please. There is many, many different ways to upgrade your characters. The game has some pretty nice pre-rendered 3D graphics. Coming from me, that's strange, since I usually hate pre-rendered 3D graphics with a passion! The music and sound aspects of things are pretty decent. There doesn't seem to be a whole lot of variation in the soundtrack, though. Really, if you like turn-based RPGs, check this game out!
http://www.scottgames.com/
Knytt Stories
Yet another brilliant and beautiful game from the creator of Within a Deep Forest and Knytt. Knytt Stories is a sequel to Knytt in a sense that you play as a Knytt. It's quite different, however, since the game's difficulty is somewhere inbetween Knytt and Within a Deep Forest. It's not really hard, but there's some challenge there. It's also different because you have to collect various power-ups to complete the game, like one would do in Metroid. Don't expect to get any weapons, though. The visual and audio sides of Knytt Stories are freakin' amazing! The atmosphere of the game really puts most 3D bump-mapped, bloom-fests to shame.
The best part about Knytt Stories, though, is that it isn't just one game, it's a bunch of games! The game comes with quite a nice level editor that allows you to make levels just like the ones the developers made. You can even import your own graphics and music, as well as create your own story. The possibilities are pretty much endless. I'd recommend playing all of the game's first-party levels, including the ones in the (free) expansion pack. My favorite is probably An Underwater Adventure.
If you don't need a game to be obscenely violent in order to enjoy it, I can't see Knytt Stories disappointing you.
http://nifflas.ni2.se/index.php?main...es&sub=01About
Launchball
If you've ever played The Incredible Machine, you should sort of know what to expect from Launchball... Fun! While, to be honest, Launchball is really no comparison to the TIM series (on the otherhand, what does compare to TIM?), but that doesn't stop it from still being pretty entertaining. Basically, in every level, your goal is to get a ball from the starting to point to the exit. To do this, you need to place down objects, then hit the "test" button to see how things play out. There's quite a few different objects to take advantage of here, including fans, magnets, springs, fire, ice, etc.. A lot of the puzzle are pretty easy, still, but there a couple brain teasers that are pretty rough, especially some of the user made ones. Yep, you can make your levels! There are no limits, except for your imagination. This game might have been made for "8-14 year-olds", but I'd say it's pretty rad!
http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/launchpad/launchball/
Toribash 3.0
Toribash makes its triumphant return to this list! Toribash is no longer shareware, and is once again completely free to play! Yes, I know the above image is not a screenshot of version 3.0, which features some very nice shaders, if your computer can handle them. Don't worry, they can be turned off.
Toribash is an innovative turn-based physics fighting game where you manipulate your character's joints in order to fight. It's really, really cool, but it's also really complex. The learning curve for this game is huge! That's not a huge problem, however, since even if you don't know what you're doing, Toribash is still really fun. Even better, the game has tons of feature, including: character customization, various modifications, online play, and tons of variable game rules, including decapitation. If you're looking for something completely different from anything you've ever played before, give Toribash a try.
http://www.toribash.com/downloads.html
rRootage
There are so many freeware shmup games on the internet, it can be pretty hard to pick out the good from the bad. rRootage is definitely one of the good ones. What makes rRootage so awesome? Well, its simplicity! You pretty much do nothing in rRootage but dodge bullets and shoot, and it plays like a dream! There's no low-threat enemies to annoy you, either, since the game is just a series of boss-fights. There's very large number of stages, all of you which can play in any order, any time you please. The further you go down a column of levels, however, the harder they get, and they get pretty damn hard. On top of that, there's also four different modes to choose from. You got the game's basic mode, which is based off of your average shooter, and then you've got three other modes based on popular shmup games, such as Ikaruga. Shmup fan or not, I think you'll enjoy rRootage. I know I do!
http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~cs8k-cyu/windows/rr_e.html
Babo Violent 2
Ever wonder what a deathmatch arena game would be like if it were a top-down game rather than 3D? Well, me either, but Babo Violent is still pretty cool. You control a little ball with a gun attached, and you shoot other little balls with guns attached. Please, don't take that out of context. There's quite a few different guns to choose from, most of which work fairly differently and have different purposes. You got your machines guns, your shotuns, your lasers, your bazookas, and your grenades mostly covered here, as well a few others. Yeah, there really isn't a whole lot to say about the game. One of my friends said that he thought this game was better than Soldat, but that's not something I agree with. That's not to say Babo Violent 2 isn't good fun, though, because it is. Oh yeah, and the music's awful. You should turn it off.
http://www.rndlabs.ca/bv2/about.php
I'm still adding games, so keep your eye on this thread if you're at all interested.
Also, thanks to everyone who has recommended games to me that have shown up on this list! There's too many to list, but you know who you are!
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17th August 2007
Post #1441
